 Vedanta Society Building,San Francisco | |
| File:California | |
| Abbreviation | VSNC |
|---|---|
| Type | INGO |
| Legal status | Active |
| Purpose | Humanitarian |
| Location |
|
Region served | Northern California |
| Website | sfvedanta |
Vedanta Society of Northern California is a Vedanta Society located at 2323 Vallejo Street, San Francisco, California 94123.[1] The society was founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1900.[2] During his second visit to the US, Vivekananda lectured and taught for three months in San Francisco, Oakland, and Alameda.[3]
Establishment
editIn 1899, Vivekananda travelled to the West for the second time. On 22 February 1900, he reached the San Francisco Ferry Building where he stayed in a building at the Home of Truth centre, 1231 Pine Street. He then delivered his first lecture in San Francisco on "The Ideal of a Universal Religion". The lecture was followed by another on "Vedantism" which he delivered on 24 February. Vivekananda stayed at San Francisco for three months and continued to lecture at Oakland, and Alameda also.
Students from both sides of San Francisco Bay wanted Vivekananda to form an organization that would continue their study after Vivekananda left. On April 14, after one of Vivekananda's evening lectures, the Vedanta Society of Northern California was formed for the dual purpose “of assisting Swami Vivekananda in his work in India and studying Vedanta Philosophy.” By the time Vivekanandaleft San Francisco he had decided to send Swami Turiyananda as his successor to run it at the Red Men’s building in San Francisco.[3]
In 1906, the first Hindu temple was built in the United States by Trigunatita.[4]
At a later stage the San Francisco Vedanta Society split into the parent society, Vedanta Society of Northern California, and smaller branches in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Sacramento.[1][5] In the beginning of 1915, the San Francisco Vedanta Society and the Pacific Vedanta Center were scheduled to be merged into the Vedanta Society of San Francisco.[6]
When Vivekananda was in San Francisco, a lady devotee who had attended his lecture in Los Angeles and also met enthusiastic Swami Abhedananda a young disciple, felt the need to establish a Vedanta retreat. To facilitate this need, she gave Vivekananda a gift of a forested hilly terrain about 12 miles from Lick Observatory, an area of 160 acres, in Northern California. Swami Turiyananda, a disciple of Swamiji who had come from India to San Francisco on 26 July 1900 was asked to set out the land. Then a retreat was built. It was named as "Shanti Ashrama" where Turiyananda lived for the next two years and devoted himself to teaching, meditation, and chanting.[7][3]
Swami Trugunatita, at one point, took efforts to revive the San Francisco Vedanta Society.[8]
Activities
editOf the seven Vedanta centers established in California, three are in Northern California - the Vedanta Society of Northern California at San Francisco, Berkley and the Vedanta Society of Sacramento.[1] Marie Louise Burke—an eminent researcher on Vivekananda is resident at this Vedanta Society.[9]
References
edit
Citations
edit- ^ a b c "USA Centers". Vedanta Society of Northern California. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
- ^ Courtney 2011, p. 205.
- ^ a b c "American Vedantist: A Directory of the Ramakrishna-Sarada, Volume 15 No.2". Vivekananda Movement in the Americas. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-17. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Melton and Baumann 2010, p. 3046 "Trigunatita led the San Francisco Vedanta Society, which built the first Hindu temple in America in 1906."
- ^ Ashcraft and Michael 2006, p. 8 "In some areas, the Societies [sic] grew to such an extent that congregations were divided; the San Francisco Vedanta Society, for example, separated into San Francisco, Berkeley, and Sacramento branches under the parent organization of the Vedanta Society of Northern California"
- ^ 1916, p. 180 "From the beginning of December, 1915, the Pacific Vedanta Center and the San Francisco Vedanta Society will be merged into one society to be known as the Vedanta Society of San Francisco."
- ^ Wuthnow 2011, pp. 85–86.
- ^ (Jackson 1994, p. 57) "While Swami Abhedananda revived the New York center, Swami Trigunatita did the same for the San Francisco Vedanta Society."
- ^ "About the Author". Kalpa Tree Press. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
Sources
edit- Courtney, Tom (2011). Walkabout Northern California: Hiking Inn to Inn. Wilderness Press. ISBN 978-0-89997-659-4.
- Gallagher, Eugene V.; Ashcraft, W. Michael, eds. (January 1, 2006). Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313050787.
- Carl T. Jackson (22 May 1994). Vedanta for the West: The Ramakrishna Movement in the United States. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-11388-7. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- J. Gordon Melton; Martin Baumann (21 September 2010). Religions of the World, Second Edition: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. ABC-CLIO. p. 3046. ISBN 978-1-59884-204-3. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
- Voice of Freedom: A Monthly Publication for the Growth of All Phases of Human Life Volume VII. Vol. 7. April 1915-March 1916. pp. 180–. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Wuthnow, Robert (1 July 2011). America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-3724-3.